Escape
by Namara Jane Knight
Summary: And then silence… No more thundering echoes… No more shaking of the earth… No more muffled screams… Only silence…
1. Introduction

**Namara: I'm an idiot. I started another story…but, this time I promised I would finish it. And plus, this one I already mostly wrote out, in a very vague form. Filling in the blanks should be easy. This one's an attempt at a bit of post World War III fiction. Thought I might as well give it a shot. Plus, I recently saw Warm Bodies and read Alas, Babylon and I am a Hunger Games fan and I am gonna start watching the show Revolution, so a post World War III/Apocalyptic story seems a bit easier and appropriate for me to write right now. So yeah…Jane, disclaimer if ya so please.**

**Jane: *sighs in boredom* My hikari does not own any Yu-Gi-Oh characters. Only the plotline and original-muses-used-as-characters are hers. Read on. *lazy wave of her hand***

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_Sirens blare in the night and people scramble like headless chickens, trying desperately to find safety for themselves and their families. The sounds of hundreds – perhaps thousands – of feet running across the pavement makes the ground rumble as though a small earthquake is striking the area. Screams of terrified parents and the cries of confused and frightened children ring and echo off the steel and stone buildings, almost drowning out the wails of the alarms. _

_It is happening. The Soviet Union fires upon the United States with nuclear weapons. Not only is the proud nation retaliating almost immediately, but also the rest of the world is thrown straight into the pits of hell as it attempts to figure out just what is going on. China and North Korea are laying siege to the southern counterpart and Japan. Europe is reported to already be in near desolation from the onslaught of nuclear attacks from the Soviets. Britain is still standing, but only barely. Everything is chaos._

"_OKIRO!" this scream rings above the others from a young woman looking for her love in the mayhem of the streets. She is grabbed by the arm and pulled aside._

"_This way! Hurry Sakiru!" Okiro says as he pulls her to the yard of a small apartment building and down into the bomb shelter._

_Sakiru curls up on the small bed in the corner, her arms wrapping around her slightly bulging stomach in a feeble and desperate attempt to shield her unborn child from the horror she knows is to come._

"_Where are your parents?" she asks._

"_I don't know," worry in his voice. He moves to sit beside his wife on the twin mattress of the shelter, "I just hope they're all right…" Fear and anxious stress mar his otherwise handsome and impish face._

_And then a shrill whistle, distant but closing in, is heard._

"_Oh God…" the woman buries her face in his shoulder as his strong arms wrap around her and hug his love close._

"_Shhh…it'll be ok…" whether he is speaking more to her or to himself, he doesn't know._

_**BOOM!**_

_The deafening sound and shockwave ripples throughout even the underground bunker and the lights zap out and leave the couple in utter darkness; a loud lingering rumble like an avalanche fills the air alongside what can be described as the sound of a vacuum sucking up all the air for miles. The din continues for what seems an eternity. More and more low blasts are heard farther and farther away. _

_And then silence…_

_No more thundering echoes…_

_No more shaking of the earth…_

_No more muffled screams…_

_Only silence…_


	2. Chapter 1

**Namara: Chapter one people! Oh yeah! I updated! Told ya I would, Icepool!**

**Jane: And now she's full of herself. *eyes roll***

**Namara: -_- Just say the stupid disclaimer.**

**Jane: Why do I have to repeat it? If people are that anal about it they can just go back to the introduction.**

**Namara: *face palm* Fine whatever. Read on then, guys.**

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"Okiro…" a voice broke through the deafening silence.

"I'm here. You all right?" he answered through the darkness.

"Yes," came the whispered reply.

The couple sat for what seemed to be centuries in the stretching stillness. Only moments before they had heard the sounds of their panicked nation before a horrible sound deadened it all. In truth, both Okiro and Sakiru were terrified to come out of the shelter – terrified of what they'd find, or not find, above.

Eventually, however, they knew they would have to come out. And so they did.

Okiro climbed the ladder and, with a moment of hesitation, unlatched the trapdoor and pushed it up. He took another to two steps to see above the ledge of the door and just stood.

Sakiru bit her lip, "How bad?"

No answer came except for Okiro's moving over on the ladder in a silent invitation for her to come up beside him. She complied, albeit reluctant with apprehension.

And then she saw it. Above the sheltered hole of their safe little burrow the world was in tatters. Not even tatters at that. The whole landscape, once a proud yet charming city, was charred black. Former skyscrapers were now flat to the ground. Nothing remained standing. The hospital just a block down was but an ash smudge on the toasted land. They were the two highest points for miles.

And then, around the two, other survivors began to fling open their shelter doors and the few survivors of the city began to emerge. Few of them really even knew each other, but they all gathered in a small group. In all, there were maybe thirty people from the once thriving city to represent it. A third of which were mere children.

Each person examined the others, trying to give he or herself anything to do other than look at the dead land around them. There was an older couple, their faces lined with fear and sadness and worry as they clasped their hands together. The children around ranged in age from as old as fourteen to as young as three. Two were Sakiru and Okiro, and the last six were adults. These people had never met before today. It was a child with wide innocent eyes that broke the stretching silence.

"Hello."

That one word seemed to make the others wake up. Murmurs traveled through the group as they answered.

"What do we do," asked a young woman, her three kids around her and her husband.

Okiro looked at his fellow survivors and seeing that no one had an answer, he decided to take charge, "We leave this town. We'll take what little was in the shelters with us. We'll see if we can find a city that is still standing. Perhaps Setagaya or Suginami."

"But there is nothing around for miles. There can't possibly be anything left," said another man.

"Tokyo is large. We cannot be sure of that," he answered, "But before we do anything, I'd like to know everyone's names."

The child spoke up first again, "I'm Hatori."

His father spoke next, "I am Kenta, and this is my wife Misaki."

The old man replied, "I'm Yamada. This here is my wife Miho."

"I am Koharu," the woman from before answered, "This is my husband Kawazoe and children Taiki, Riko, and Fukuda."

The others all gave their names before looking to the last two.

"I am Okiro. This is my wife Sakiru," he looked around at everyone as he spoke, "It is a pleasure to meet you all, though I wish it were under better circumstances."

Sakiru remained quiet. She had not paid much attention to the names of everyone. She was the only one who was looking around. She was the only one who seemed to acknowledge that their homes, friends, and family were gone. When she did glance at the others around her, she felt disgusted that no one, not even Okiro, was taking a second to mourn their loses. As he talked to the others, she could not take it. She pulled away from his grip on her hand and went back into the shelter, ignoring the stares from the others.

How could they not even think about what had happened? How could they not think about all that was just lost? She could. Sakiru sat on one of the beds and buried her face in her hands and let a few tears fall. She thought of her friends, family, her sister and brother, her coworkers, Okiro's parents and siblings. She thought of all the people who had just been ended, gone up in a phoenix blaze of fire. She thought of all the children who would now never get to grow up. And she cried…

Moments later, she felt a familiar hand on her shoulder. Sakiru did not react at all, did not spare a glance to her husband.

"Sakiru…we cannot stay here."

No answer.

"Sakiru?"

"Why not? Why can't we stay for at least a moment to acknowledge what's happened? Do you or anyone else not realize that Tokyo has just been wiped out? Along with every man, woman, and child who didn't make it to a shelter? Do you not realize that we're all that's left? Do you even care?"

"Of course I care!" he said, he voice raising only slightly before he took a breath and calmed down again, "Sakiru, I know what has happened, I know that everyone but us remaining few are dead. But we can't just sit here and dwell on that fact. We're all in the middle of a field of radiation now. We need to leave. No one can survive here long."

His wife sat for a moment, "Where will we really go?"

Okiro answered immediately, "West. We'll go west."

"Why?"

"Because of any civilization is left it will be that way. If not in Japan then we can cross the sea to Korea or Russia, or even China. There has to be someplace left."

There was a long pause before Sakiru hugged herself, her arms wrapping around her stomach, "What are we going to do? How will we raise a child in this world?"

"We will figure it out. Life goes on. We'll survive, and so will our child."

She only nodded in response. Seeing he had done as much as he could to comfort her, Okiro stood and began to gather the meager possessions and rations that had been stored in the shelter for such a time as this and went out to meet the others.

Sakiru sat for another few minutes before pulling herself together as she realized the truth in Okiro's words. They had to leave. She stood, dried her tears, and climbed the ladder to join the party waiting to set out away from former Tokyo.

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**Namara: I know it's a little short, but it was late when I got this written and I knew I needed to update. So yeah...At least I updated! If there is anything I could've done better, let me know in your review.**

**Jane: There's a lot you could've done.**

**Namara: Is today your day to be a smartbutt?**

**Jane: Everyday is my day to be.**

**Namara: -_- See what I live with people?**

**Jane: I doubt it's you they feel sorry for.**

**Namara: *glare* Meanie.**

**Jane: Ooh, I'm so offended! You called me a meanie! *sarcasm* Please.**

**Namara: *grumbles under breath* Just say bye, Jane.**

**Jane: Bye Jane.**

**Namara: Ugh! See ya next chapter, readers, maybe by then Jane will be in a better mood.**

**Jane: Not likely.**


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